ANTI-RACISM 202

Microaggressions are defined as "brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color" (Sue et al., 2007). 

These comments/actions are the result of many reasons, including some that are accidental from the perpetrator's perspective. Some examples include societal structures, historical oppression, and/or unconscious bias. Given that race is a social construct (see Anti-Racism 101), these beliefs, comments, and/or actions are not based in reality and cause harm to other people.

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Microaggressions impact individuals differently, but often lead to polarization between people and further othering within the perpetrator's perspectives.

Link to examples and explanations: University of Minnesota

Systemic Racism is defined as "policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization, and that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others based on race" (Cambridge Dictionary).

This essentially means that throughout societies (in the U.S. and abroad) there are structures in place that prevent some individuals from accessing the same freedoms and successes as others, both in an interpersonal way (such as a powerful individual's racism against others) and in a structural way (through laws, policing, generational wealth, etc.).

There are many examples of this, including disparities in food access. Historically redlined communities are often food deserts, meaning that there is less access to grocery stores, fresh produce, and fresh food in general. This negatively impacts health, wellness, and nutrition (Shaker et al, 2022). 

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Systemic racism also exists for Native American communities, which have historically been abused and neglected by the federal government despite this country being their homeland.

There are more information and examples of systemic racism on this page.

WATCH FIRST: ​​

• Harvard Kennedy School

• The Root

Redlining is defined as "the practice of systematically denying various services (e.g., credit access) to residents of specific neighborhoods, often based on race/ethnicity and primarily within urban communities. Historical redlining is linked to increased risk of diabetes, hypertension, and early mortality due to heart disease with evidence suggesting it impacts health through suppressing economic opportunity and human capital, or the knowledge, skills, and value one contributes to society" (Egede et al., 2023).

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"Compared with White residents, residents of color were more likely to be locked into undesirable areas with deteriorating structures and higher residential density" (Li and Yuan, 2022). Essentially, Black American communities were outlined in governmental maps as communities that did not need or receive the same governmental and financial services that other communities received.

"Furthermore, since asset accumulation and intergenerational wealth transfer in the United States was mainly achieved through homeownership, redlining basically blocked Black families from accumulating socioeconomic resources. This practice impeded the upward mobility of disadvantaged Black families, prevented the accumulation of generational wealth, and impeded the ability of families to break the existing patterns of racial residential segregation" (Li & Yuan, 2022).

See below for more resources and explanations.

This topic has been an issue of debate and sometimes hatred between groups of people. I encourage you to remember that while the police are responsible for protecting communities (a heavy burden), it's key to remember that police brutality and unjust violence is a real issue. 

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The origins of American Policing began with the "Slave Patrol," an organized group of white people who were responsible for returning enslaved Africans to those who had owned them before they were made free or escaped. "Tactics included the use of excessive force to control and produce desired slave behavior" (NAACP), which continue to this day when policing leads to a difference in treatment between white and black people.

"By the 1900s, local municipalities began to establish police departments to enforce local laws in the East and Midwest, including Jim Crow laws. Local municipalities leaned on police to enforce and exert excessive brutality on African Americans who violated any Jim Crow law. Jim Crow Laws continued through the end of the 1960s" (NAACP).

I encourage you to look into the way people like George Floyd (46), Stephon Alonzo Clark (22), Philando Castile (32), and Elijah McLain (23), and others were treated by police, and imagine what this situation would look like if these people were white- it's likely that their rights would not have been violated in the same way. These were people like you and your family, with a long life ahead of them.

Each case is unique. Look through the link below and research individual cases to get a better grasp on it.

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https://sayevery.name/say-their-names-list

WATCH FIRST:

• The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition - Historical Context of U.S. Boarding Schools

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"Native American children were forcibly abducted from their homes and put into Christian- and government-run boarding schools beginning in the mid 1800s and into the 1950s. This offense was pursuant to a federal policy designed to “civilize” Indians and stamp out Native cultures; a deliberate policy of ethnocide and cultural genocide" (NARF).

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"Though we don’t know how many children were taken in total, by 1900 there were 20,000 children in Indian boarding schools, and by 1925 that number had more than tripled. The U.S. Native children that were voluntarily or forcibly removed from their homes, families, and communities during this time were taken to schools far away where they were punished for speaking their Native language, banned from acting in any way that might be seen to represent traditional or cultural practices, stripped of traditional clothing, hair and personal belongings and behaviors reflective of their native culture.

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They suffered physical, sexual, cultural and spiritual abuse and neglect, and experienced treatment that in many cases constituted torture for speaking their Native languages. Many children never returned home and their fates have yet to be accounted for by the U.S. government" (National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition). A similar boarding school plan was initiated in Canada, with similar results. Indigenous history in many places was erased through practices like this.

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WATCH NEXT:

Crash Course - The History of Native American Boarding Schools

i-D - Real Life As A Young and Native American​

WATCH FIRST:

• Crash Course - The Truth About Christopher Columbus's "First Contact"

• ​Crash Course - From the Trail of Tears to Wounded Knee

There have been many treaties signed by Native Americans and the federal government, many in effort by Native Americans to keep some land under Native control. Many Native American tribes were moved west of the Mississippi River under the "Indian Removal Act," where they were given new "reserved" land that was also partially taken from them and controlled by the federal government later on- what we now know as reservations.

"The treaties keyed off the fundamental idea that each tribal group was an independent nation, with their own right to self-determination and self-rule. But as white settlers began moving onto Native American lands, this idea came into conflict with the relentless pace of westward expansion—resulting in many broken promises on the part of the U.S. government" (History.com).

Today, Native Americans live on these reservations and are frequently denied access to aid from the federal government- they're expected to govern themselves without the land, resources, and money needed to properly do that for their populations. 

Heat:

​Redlined communities often have fewer green spaces and are without the protection from the sun that green spaces provide. "With fewer shade-providing trees, parks and other green spaces, and a high density of heat-trapping concrete buildings and asphalt roads, these neighborhoods tend to retain more heat. [A] study found that redlined neighborhoods were 5 degrees F hotter on average than other neighborhoods in the same city" (Cimons, 2020).

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Development:

Due to redlining, it became common that major highways and roadways were built on and/or near communities of color. This leads to higher likelihood of illness/disease (as stated in the Redlining section).​ "The construction of highways through black neighborhoods led to long-lasting economic and cultural destruction of these neighborhoods, and directly contributed to the increase in segregation and concentration of poverty" (Mahajan, 2020).​​

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Pollution:

​Superfund sites are heavily polluted facilities and/or locations the Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for cleaning up. Studies have found that "[d]isadvantaged communities, with higher social vulnerability, were more likely to be near certain Superfund sites with higher hazard scores" (Trottier et al, 2025). "Several studies have found that residential proximity to Superfund sites is associated with the occurrence of adverse human health effects, ranging from poor birth outcomes to chronic diseases. Studies have also detected contaminants from Superfund sites in the air, soil, and dust of nearby homes (Trottier et al, 2025).

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Regarding uranium mining on Navajo land, "[v]irtually all of the Navajo miners report that they were not educated about the hazards of uranium mining and were not provided with protective equipment or ventilation" (Brugge & Goble, 2002). Even after the world/governments had figured out that radiation exposure led to lung cancer and other diseases, the Navajo miners were left without proper protection and safeguards (Brugge & Goble, 2002). This has lead to an increase in pollution-caused cancers and other health issues among Navajo people, whose land remains polluted to this day (EPA, 2025). 

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